Any day now, we could be hearing that our country is finally ready to respect our humanity and our right to love and be recognized beyond gender.
It's great, but as I'm a trans woman and activist, my focus has changed [...]
I'm regularly worried about adequate health care and doctors who know what's up with my body.
I'm lucky now, but there was also a time when I was worried I'd be outed and lose my job. Then I'd be in the spiral of homelessness that consumes much of my community.
It's true. Trans folk often have much more urgent things to worry about, like finding restrooms, validating educational spaces, housing and more. As well, I can't help but think about all of the trans women my community has lost this year.
It's difficult when the larger queer community, which arguably has more social power and influence, ignores the fact that we can multitask [...]
We can be more than a single-issue movement.

November marks the beginning of Transgender Awareness Month, which aims to help raise the visibility of the transgender and gender-nonconforming population.

The movement also seeks to address the unique ways in which this community is disenfranchised, from homelessness to representation in film.

In honor of Transgender Awareness Month, we've compiled a few of the unique challenges faced by the transgender community:

By including transgender people in the census, there will be accurate data that lawmakers can access, which will specifically address the unique challenges the trans community faces.

This would help create policies that would effectively help the community.

Gary Gates, LGBTQ+ demographer at the University of California, came up with the most frequently cited (yet limited) estimations of the United States transgender population, and he has made it a point to encourage survey writers to include the LGBTQ+ population in their research.

Major breakthroughs have been made.

In 2013, the Center For Disease Control's National Health Interview Survey included a section on sexual orientation, making nationally representative data for the lesbian, gay and bisexual community available for the first time.

Data regarding gender identity is still missing from these studies, an occurrence which Gates describes as "demographic malpractice. "

2. The Matter Of Healthcare Inequality

Transgender healthcare is a basic need that non-trans people receive without question every day.

Transgender health treatments are not only safe, but they are also effective and medically necessary for a large number of transgender people.

Sadly, healthcare is still being denied to transgender people, due to prejudice ideologies, as well as misinformation.

A recent survey conducted by the National Center For Transgender Equality and National Gay And Lesbian Task Force points out that 19 percent of trans people lack any form of health insurance, including Medicaid.

Half reported they actually had to explain transgender health issues to their own doctors.

These lapses in proper medical practice have contributed to disproportionately negative health outcomes for trans people, especially when this is compared with the general population's availability to healthcare.

Health insurance issues arise for all people, but the fact of the matter is these problems are much more frequent within the trans community.

3. Housing Biases

Housing discrimination has been a long battle for the LGBTQ+ community.

In many states, even today, it is still legal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

One in five transgender people in the United States has been discriminated when seeking a home, and more than one in ten have been evicted from their homes, because of their gender identity.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has issued guidance stating that discrimination against transgender renters or homebuyers based on gender identity or gender stereotypes constitutes sex discrimination and is prohibited under the Fair Housing Act (FHA).
Unfortunately, general lack of awareness has contributed to continued discrimination, eviction and homelessness of transgender people in the United States.
Strong, explicit legal protection from gender identity discrimination, including at the state and local levels, is still needed.

Ramirez reports she has experienced landlords yelling slurs like “faggot” or “gay boy,” which caused her to move.

Her current landlord told her recently she couldn't renew her lease until she presented identification that stated her female name and listed her as a female.

Getting the documentation her landlord required is no easy task.

In some states, she would be required to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Other states require that transgender people submit a form signed by a medical professional, stating what their gender identity is, in order to obtain a driver's license.

This is something Emmy Award-winning director, Jill Soloway, highlighted in her acceptance speech for her show, “Transparent.”

“Something interesting about my moppa,” Solowa said, using her nickname for her transgender parent.

“She could tomorrow go and try to find an apartment, and in 32 states it would be legal for the landlord to look her in the eye and say, 'We don't rent to trans people.'”

An article written by David Cross of Movoto Real Estate's blog highlights some of the ways in which allies are trying to end LGBTQ+ housing discrimination.

In 2010, the National Association Of Gay And Lesbian Real Estate Professionals led the charge to include protections for colleagues and consumers based off of their sexual orientation.

Two years later, NAGLREP moved to add the words “gender identity,” as well an amendment that passed in 2013.

4. Homelessness And Shelter Inequality

Kerith Conron made a staggering discovery back in 2001 while he was working on LGBTQ+ issues in Boston's health department.

Conron noticed homeless transgender people were sleeping on the streets at night because the homeless shelters were strongly segregated by gender at the time.

Shelter workers, though seemingly well-intentional, were ignorant about transgender issues and didn't know where to place trans people.

In turn, trans people weren't included in the analysis of those who needed shelter in Boston.

6. Discrimination Against Transgender Parents

With so many children waiting for loving homes, it is important to ensure all qualified caregivers have the opportunity to serve as foster or adoptive parents, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status.

Sadly, society as a whole does not yet recognize the reality that couples should be allowed to raise children, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Trans people who form families after transitioning face challenges to their status as lawful parents.

These claims are often based on attacks that question the legitimacy of their marriages.

It doesn't matter what gender your parents are.
Research shows the most important influences on a child's happiness and development are the quality of the child's relationship with a parent or parents, the quality of the parents' relationship with each other or other adults and economic factors.
Having just one parent or having two of the same gender doesn't leave children any less well-adjusted than having one of either gender.
A parent's 'gender conformity' — how well they conform to society's expectations of gender roles — is also irrelevant when evaluating the 'best interests of the child,' the standard courts use to determine custody issues.
Studies on gender-nonconforming parents (masculine women or feminine men, for instance) have found that when traditional mom and dad parenting roles are reversed, reshuffled — or even combined in the case of a single parent — there is no adverse effect on the child.

What I think is so brilliant about Sophia's story line and that particular moment — and what Jenji Kohan and our writers came up with — is that it shows the truth of the experience that a lot of transgender folks have in prison every single day.
Far too often, trans people who are incarcerated are placed in solitary confinement allegedly for 'our protection.' And sometimes trans women are placed in men's prisons, where they put us in solitary confinement, which is cruel and unusual punishment allegedly for our protection.
So when the writers came up with this, it's from reality. This is what happens to so many transgender people who are incarcerated every single day

The case of Ashley Diamond is another example of the struggles endured by transgender people who are carelessly tossed into incorrect prison environments.

Up until her arrest, Diamond lived an open, outspoken life as a transgender woman of color. Diamond's life was greatly altered when she entered a Georgia prison for men.

Diamond, who was a first-time inmate, was sent to various high-security lockups.

While serving her sentence, she was raped at least seven times. Diamond was mercilessly mocked by authority figures and labeled as a “he-she thing.”

She was put in solitary confinement for “pretending to be a woman.”

She has undergone drastic physical changes without hormones and has tried to castrate herself. She has also attempted to end her own life several times.

Prison overcrowding is a huge problem for the United States, and every proverbial ball has been dropped when it comes to placing transgender inmates in correct facilities.